Flagship project
Project to support Operations in Lebanon on Cultural Heritage - PROTECT-HERITAGE
PROTECT-HERITAGE contributes to fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural goods by strengthening inter-institutional cooperation between EU Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and Partner Countries' LEAs.
The project enhances the capacities of the Lebanese LEAs, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) and Customs, in their fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property. It focuses on stolen and looted cultural property coming from outside the European Union into the EU customs territory and European art markets.
GOPA strengthens existing operational capacities of the Lebanese ISF and reinforces ongoing Lebanese operations and joint investigative activities in the field of illicit trafficking of cultural property through capacity building activities and peer-to-peer learning, based on the specific requests coming from Lebanese LEAs. Our team collects data on-site for a strategic analysis and tracking of illicit trafficking in cultural goods to create an innovative 3D database to track looted artefacts coming from Lebanese archaeological sites. GOPA has deployed the PITCH training by the World Customs Organisation and has enhanced mentoring and joint actions of the Lebanese LEAs with the Carabinieri and WCO.